Hot melt cylindrical craft beads, such as PERLER® brand beads, are hollow, cylindrical beads that can be melted and fused together when subjected to an appropriate amount of heat. Hot melt beads come in a wide variety of colors, and although many sizes are available, standard hot melt beads are approximately the size of a pencil eraser. Hot melt beads can be used to make a virtually unlimited variety of craft projects, the most common being two-dimensional images whereby different colors of beads are arranged in a specific pattern to resemble, for example, a flower, a butterfly, a star, and the like.
To create a hot melt bead project a user arranges the beads onto a pegboard. The pegboard may be specifically configured and shaped to resemble the object being made, or may be rectangular, circular, or some other generic shape, and it will then be up to the user to arrange the beads in the desired pattern. The pegboards include a plurality of upwardly extending pegs, each sized to fit within the central opening of an individual bead. The pegs are arranged and spaced about the pegboard so that when individual beads are placed on adjacent pegs, the beads are touching or very nearly touching one another.
After the user has arranged the desired pattern on the pegboard, the user applies heat, for example, by way of a traditional clothing iron, to the exposed upper surface of the arrangement of beads. The heat melts the upper ends of the beads such that adjacent beads fuse together. Once one side of the arrangement of beads has been fused together, the user may then remove the arrangement of beads from the pegboard. If desired, the user may also fuse the opposite side of the arrangement of beads.